Peter Jackson has announced he's planning his first-ever visit to Comic-Con next month. He'll be there promoting the Jackson-produced District 9 (pictured). Oh and, by the way, James Cameron may be showing up to preview Avatar as well.

Hard to believe that Mohammad has never come to this particular mountain before, but then, Jackson's usually in the editing bay until the last minute, and it's a long way from New Zealand to San Diego. "After all these years, I'm thrilled that I finally have the opportunity to visit San Diego for Comic-Con. I am especially excited that I am attending to support District 9," Jackson said in a press release on Friday, which noted that the alien-internment thriller's director Neill Blomkamp and star Sharito Copley would sit on a panel with him. "Neill is a tremendously talented young director and he's made an extraordinary film, so it was important to me to come to San Diego to spread the word. I look forward to attending my first ever Comic-Con and I know that those who visit us on July 24th in Hall H will be in for quite a ride."

Eight paragraphs down in its report about Jackson's visit to Comic-Con, the New York Times casually notes that Jackson's visit might be upstaged by Cameron if 20th Century Fox decides to send him to Comic-Con to preview Avatar. (And why wouldn't they?) Not even Hall H may be big enough to contain all the fanboy enthusiasm sparked by having both the King of the World and the Ruler of Middle-earth at the convention.